More Obama brilliance

OH MY GOSH! A president didn't tell the truth! This is completely and totally shocking and unexpected!

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Obama: No U.S. Forces on the Ground in Libya… Except For Those Guys.

By Jim Geraghty

NPR: “President Obama said Wednesday it was ‘absolutely’ out of the question that U.S. ground forces would be used in Libya.”

How would the president describe the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit? There is no such thing as a purely air-based combat mission; planes have problems and pilots end up on the ground, and then U.S. forces have to end up on the ground, hopefully briefly, to rescue them and bring them home safely. Ask Scott O’Grady how much time you can spend on the ground while patrolling a no-fly zone.

Details on the recent rescue:

The Kearsarge then sent up two MV-22 Ospreys carrying Marine rescue teams. As they were en route, the Harriers dropped two laser-guided bombs near the crash site, apparently to keep Libyans on the ground from approaching the pilot.

With additional helicopters hovering overhead for security, one of the Ospreys landed and picked up the pilot. He was then taken aboard the Kearsarge.

The weapons systems officer was recovered by what U.S. officials described as Libyan opposition forces. He is safe, officials have said.

There are about 2,200 Marines off the shore of Libya right now.

UPDATE: God bless Matt Drudge and the Drudge Report.

With the sudden influx of attention, permit me to further clarify the original point of this post: President Obama’s tendency to speak in broad, sweeping terms that are not accurate (see Tim Carney for more illustrations of this) and to underline the folly of the notion, implied by much of this administration’s rhetoric, that any military action can be quick, clean, easy, or minimal risk. Thankfully, the rescue of the downed pilots earlier this week went off without a hitch, and God willing, any future rescues will end successfully and with minimal contact with the enemy. But that’s up to chance; Operation Eagle Claw and the Battle of Mogadishu demonstrate that there’s no such thing as a simple rescue mission. At some point, the U.S. may need many “boots on the ground,” despite repeated, broadly-worded assurances from the president and commanding officers that such a scenario will not occur.

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Know what's REALLY sad? This does not surprise me in the least, especially considering how well Obama's previous promises have been fulfilled. Let's take a quick look at a few, shall we?

Getting the troops out of Iraq/Afghanistan - Well, that worked out well. And now we're in Libya.

Closing Guantanamo - It's still there, Mr. President.

Stopping the Bush regime's trampling of civil liberties - Oops. That didn't work out as planned. Because Mr. Obama has continued.

Please do this - if a president makes a promise, prepare for the OPPOSITE of that promise.

Iraq... Afghanistan... Now Libya

The UN has declared a no-fly zone. US units have launched Tomahawk missile strikes.

Great.

Peace-Prize winner O-bomb-a has gottent the US involved in a stupid war. Again. It is only a matter of time before air strikes turn into troops on the ground. Again. It's only a matter of time before we get involved in an endless war. Again. Odds are, we'll end up causing more problems than we solve. AGAIN.

I can't help but get the feeling that this has happened before. Oh, well. The President's approval ratings with the neocons should soar, and that's what really matters.

I'm sick of Obama. I'm sick of Congress. I'm sick of half-witted goons started idiotic wars that will accomplish NOTHING. I'm just plain sick of Amerika. I want America back!

The Tragedy in Japan and Nuclear Power

I WOULD do a post on the actual disaster in Japan, but it would be a little late, and there are many, many better places to read about it. Instead, I am going to criticize media reporting. You may have noticed that for every report on the actual tragedy, there are two or three screaming "NUCLEAR MELTDOWN!!!" I can guarantee you, this will be turned into an anti-nuclear crusade, even if (like at Three Mile Island) nobody is actually harmed by the plants. A "meltdown," even if by some freak chance one happened, would not harm anyone except people stupid enought to be literally inside the plant itself. That's what happened with Chernobyl - the only people killed died INSIDE the plant, and nobody died from "fallout" - in fact, nobody was even harmed.

Now, one thing I've seen claimed is that uranium fuel rods are dangerous because they have such a long half-life. This is both true and a flat out lie. It IS true that uranium has an extremely long half-life, but that is what makes it SAFE, except in obscenely high amounts, by which I mean being literally surrounded by it. Half-life is the amount of time it takes for 50% of a radioactive compound to "decay" - that is, emit radiation and cease to be radioactive. When a compound emits a particle of radiation, it ceases to be that compound, and thus no longer emits radiation. Something with a short half-life, such as radon gas, is quite dangerous, because a LOT of radiation is emitted in a short time. On the other hand, if you take the same amount of uranium, it will take FAR longer to emit the same amount of radiation. So yes, it is radioactive longer, but it emits very little radiation.

Please, news outlets, stop with your ridiculous crusade against safe, clean, affordable power! In fact, stop taking tragedies and using them as an excuse to condemn those you disagree with.

Go, South Carolina!

Lightbulb tyrants, tremble in fear! There are some legislators that are actually trying to get some good accomplished.

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SC State Reps Have More Than Their Heads Screwed on Properly
by Jerry McConnell





According to Robert Romano of NETRIGHTDAILY.com two State Representatives in South Carolina want to get their heads screwed on right by allowing the people of their state to be able to continue to screw incandescent light bulbs into the lighting fixtures in their homes in that state.

These two screwy, in the most commendable way, legislators Bill Sandifer and Dwight Loftis, have authored and submitted a bill that would allow for the manufacture and purchase of incandescent bulbs in South Carolina. As Romero points out, these bulbs are currently subject to a federal ban that begins to take effect in January, 2012, just a mere nine months from now.

NetRightDaily’s reporter Romano explained what motivated the two State Representatives Sandifer and Loftis as told by Bill Wilson, the President of Americans for Limited Government when he said they “are taking the lead in protecting the rights of South Carolina consumers, who don’t want the federal government telling them which light bulbs they must use.”

“The basic concept of the bill” according to State Rep. Bill Sandifer, Chairman of the House Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee, “is to allow the citizens of South Carolina to be able to continue to buy incandescent bulbs.”

“It is my strong belief that the feds have overstepped the Tenth Amendment, and now are venturing into telling us what kinds of lighting we can have in our homes,” Sandifer added.

“But how can the federal government ban light bulbs?’ asked Romano, “They are trying to use again as they have so often done, the Commerce Clause. But I have a real problem with Big Brother intruding in how I live in my home,” Sandifer declared.

Explaining what the bill does, Representative Loftis said “it provides for the option of an entity manufacturing these bulbs in South Carolina to be sold in South Carolina.”


Wilson explained, “since the bulbs would be made entirely in South Carolina and sold in South Carolina, the federal government has no power to regulate it under the Interstate Commerce Clause.” Romano’s report went on saying there would be more hearings in the subcommittee before coming to a final vote in the full committee. Chairman Sandifer was hopeful for a full house approval of the bill.

After regaining control of Congress in 2006 a piece of legislation passed by the Congressional majority of Democrats in 2007 called Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 which requires that all general-purpose light bulbs be more energy efficient than the existing incandescent bulbs starting on January 1, 2012 on a graduated basis beginning with 100 watt bulbs and ending with 40 watt bulbs in 2014.

It seems like that legislation was enacted just this past year it is still so fresh in people’s minds along with the unpopularity of its requirements. Except for a few chronic worry-warts I know that would be happy to ban almost any activity we humans take for granted, just about everyone else I speak with would prefer to keep the old reliable bulb Thomas Edison brought to us over a century ago.

The “Greenies” as environmentalists are often known, might be happy with their coup of replacing incandescent with the compact fluorescent lamps but our modern day rival China is ecstatic over this new ruling, as they have gained the lion’s share of the market for CFLs as they are commonly known.

So the Democrats once again proved their leadership in moving jobs away from American citizens and blessing foreigners with their largesse, reminiscent of the job shift from American citizens to foreign illegal aliens for the sake of gaining more votes, illegal in many cases, right here at home.

So OK, maybe they’re better for us in terms of environmental issues; but much of the opposition to these bulbs do not agree with that assessment. And the cost factor is also being argued in some circles that the excessive extra cost can, in some instances, never be recovered through cheaper operating costs. Time will settle that issue.


But these new corkscrew looking bulbs may be MUCH more dangerous to our health and the environment as the heavy content of mercury poses long-term additional risks and the very costs of necessary burdensome methods of exact clean-up of broken bulbs is onerous, particularly indoors where nearly all of the breakage will be concentrated. Another time-will-tell issue. But can we wait to find out?

One more complaint with these bulbs is the inability to provide a dimmable bulb which is very popular in many households. It is believed that this will be worked out in due time; but as stated above, can we wait to find out?

Robert Romano furnished these closing remarks by Dwight Loftis, one of the South Carolina Representative authors of the bill who blasted the federal ban on incandescent light bulbs, saying, “On the one hand, the feds say we need to do something about cleaning up the environment, and on the other hand, they impose requirements that we use this particular light bulb that has hazards with the disposal of it.” The new fluorescent bulbs are laced with mercury, raising concerns over the costs of proper disposal and over mercury seepage back into the environment.

“All in all, it’s just something that the feds really I think have no business in regulating,” Loftis said, saying that the supposed cost savings from using the bulbs simply will not be there for consumers.”

I agree. Why in the world would we Americans want to mandate a foreign product of highly questionable merits, and of higher costs along with attendant loss of jobs going to other countries?

Are all those negatives worth seeing Democrats get more votes to perpetuate their terms in office? Good luck to the two South Carolina solons and may their zeal spread rapidly to other states if the Republicans in Congress can’t repeal this bad piece of legislation.

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What is this?! A sane statement by a politician? This is very, very good. If this passes, it will be VERY interesting to see how the Feds respond. Will they attempt to strike out at SC over lightbulbs? Or will they sit back and destroy their own credibility by being beaten by a State? I seriously hope it's the latter, simply because it's been ages since States' Rights have been effectively used to stop any government infringement.

Oh, one other thing. Hold me to this - unless it is literally impossible, I will make sure to post at least once a week on here. I am SO sorry for not keeping this blog updated with stuff on Egypt and the like.